Earlier in the week, I wrote about a few new details that have been discovered about the upcoming entry in the Kingdom Hearts series, “3D: Dream Drop Distance”; this time, I’ve got some new info on one of the most important and beloved aspects of the game, the story and the cutscenes which help to flesh it out.

In a recently translated interview with Tetsuya Nomura, the man behind Kingdom Hearts and other Square-Enix games such as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, many things were discussed from fans’ reception on which game in the series was the best and what they like most about the series, to Nomura’s plans for the future of the series. The most important thing taken away from this interview regarding Kingdom Hearts 3D however, was that of the game’s emphasis on plot and the accompanying cutscenes, or lack-thereof.

"Nomura: I’d say the development status of KH3D is about 40%-50%? We’ll start recording the voices soon. The theme this time was “bold action”, but we also wanted to stress the importance of the story’s tempo. Though the story is important to fans as shown by the results of the survey, it won’t be drawn-out.

- Does that mean you’ll be decreasing the number of cutscenes?

Nomura: Not meaning that we’ve decreased the number of cutscenes, but having each one explained one by one reduces the tempo of the game, so we’re introducing a new system to make up for it. It’s a directionally different system like what’s being introduced in Final Fantasy Versus XIII which won’t have cutscenes; it’ll be a sort of integration where you can play during the event scene. Along with that, Sora will fight alongside different friends. There’s also a secret movie being prepared, so please look forward to it."

So there you have it, instead of your regular “put the controller (or 3DS) down, grab a snack and watch the movie” style cutscenes (which are certainly great in their own way too), Kingdom Hearts 3D will be featuring more action-oriented “event scenes” to explain the story. We don’t know yet what this entails, be it simply pressing buttons to make choices during the scenes (similar to Resident Evil 4 and 5), or something even more hands-on. I reported earlier on Sora (and Riku)’s new companions, but the confirmation of a new secret movie (likely unlocked by completing the game 100%) is a welcome, although completely expected announcement as well.[/p]

I'm just glad I get to move with a digital pad instead of the dpad for it.

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wha...? but dpad=directional/digital pad. maybe you meant analog or circlepad?

anyways, it could be good that KH3D won't have cutscenes, in that graphics may be close to cutscene quality-ish. the bad is that usually the cutscenes are the calm before the storm, the small breather before you dive into a boss fight. taking it away means... you can bash the boss even before bravados are thrown back and forth. and of course, vice versa. too much action will burn you out and exhaust the player.

i just hope that they're aiming for continuity in that play part and story parts are seamless.

EDIT: or maybe it'll look like active skits. dialogue is thrown around, but you're not tied down by characters acting their lines out. which means no fancy drama acting when you're running Sora in circles.

I'm thinking it'll be like Dragon Ball: Origins 2 where you'll need to fulfil certain requirements to proceed in the cutscene (like touching a certain part of the screen or press a certain button quickly to continue with the cutscene)